New toy - Douglas

Great news, so glad you followed up my 'tip' - I feel like some sort of engine match-making agency! Even better, we can now compare notes on the Duggie.

NHH

You sad pair, when's the wedding :-))

Nice eng>> Just bought a WW1 Douglas generator engine. It is contemporaneous with

Forgot to tell the world about my own New Toy. Some time ago Mike H was kind enough to offer me first refusal on his Barr & Stroud WB1. I briefly protested that I had no space but, with an interest in odd ball engines and early wireless, I had to bite eventually! After a bit of haggling we finally completed the deal at an service station on the M4 a couple of weeks ago.

Nice little thing it is too - I'm sticking with the marine emergency set theory for now, though the extensive use of aluminium has perhaps just sown a few seeds of doubt.

The carb is currently devoid of a working needle valve (what's in there looks suspiciously like a modified gramophone needle!) and Mike advised delicate tweaking of the throttle and fuel tap achieve something like the right mixture. I've only had a few brief attempts but the right balance has so far evaded me and after starting on gypsies breath I can only get it to run for a couple of minutes - mind you, Mike used to set up fuel controllers on Harrier engines!

Clearly the first thing to do was strip the carb and work out where the fuel level should be. It turned out to be a curious contraption consisting primarily of three close fitting brass tubes (something which Barr & Stroud must have been well versed in as makers of precision optical equipment)the innermost of which rotates and is ported to control throttle and air. No separate jets, just tiny holes through each tube. At first this baffled me - surely if the fuel level was above the hole in the outermost tube then fuel would dribble through continuously irrespective of engine vacuum and if below then there is no way it could be drawn through! Studying it closer, I noticed that the holes through the intermediate tubes were higher than in the outer so that, in conjunction with an annular recess it formed a cunning submerged jet arrangement. Now all I need to do is get the needle valve to work and set the fuel level just below the inner holes. The needle seat BTW is in the banjo bolt (screw) so fine adjustment can be made by the thickness of the fiber washer between this and the top of the float chamber.

Picture of carb here:-

Thanks Nick, interesting pictures.

I think you might be right about the marine use - the very strange starting handle sticks out of the top, indicating an expectation of not being able to stand at either end to start it by moiré usual means.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Those are the pics Mike posted some time ago - only one I have taken so far is of carb in pieces which I might get round to uploading eventually.

As you might remember from the discussions when Mike got the engine, there are various clues as to its application to be found in the literature but nothing definitive. I certainly convinced myself that it was intended for ship's boat use, driving a spark Tx directly with that odd 100V 800C/S output. However, Aluminium and a marine environment don't generally mix too well - imagine pulling back the canvas of your lifeboat to find a pile of white powder where your emergency wireless should be!

NHH

You may be right Mike, weight would have been more of a consideration on a lifeboat than for main ships' equipment - when did reasonably corrosion resistant ally bronzes come in?

These are about the only refs I have found:-

David Edgington in SEM Jan '80; "In the early 1920's a contract was obtained for engines to power equipment on ship's boats - proposed regulations stated that a certain proportion of the lifeboats carried on a liner must be fitted with wireless."

'Range and Vision -The first 100 years of Barr & Stroud' 1988 (must get it back to you Mike!); "During the early 1920s, the Board of Trade gave serious consideration to making emergency wireless sets compulsory items of equipment on ships' lifeboats.........Barr & Stroud collaborated with Marconi for a time.........came to nought however when the BOT decided not to impose greater financial obligations on hard-pressed shipowner while the (post war) depression in the shipping industry continued, and the proposed emergency wireless legislation was dropped.

Obviously the two tie up but with a frustrating lack of actual dates. I had a trawl through Hansard to try and tie this down, but only came across a later ref which indicates that wireless legislation did eventually come into force in 1924 - too late for the B&S / Marconi scheme? See

Back still bad is it Martin? Mind you, I'm sure there is no shortage of cod in Hansard!

NHH

Nick,

When you were trawling through Hansard were you hoping to find something fishy in the depths of the book................................

Sorry I'll get my coat :-))

Nick,

The most embarrass>> Nick,

The Vincent Lifeboat Engine was entirely aluminium. It might be said that it was intended to be air dropped to distressed seamen, but the longer term idea was that post war it would be in much more common use in the same context. Sea trials indicated that it would do 1,000 sea miles on 50 gallons of petrol.

Incidentally, the block casting was the very devil to machine as it kept twisting out of shape during production & it took them ages to work out the appropriate heat treatment to stress relieve it.

There were H&F brake tests of a doubled-up version, but the block castings were so complex that no matter what they did it would twist out of true in the first few runs to the extent that it would seize solid overnight!

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

"Nick H" wrote

Pics of B&S carb:-